MOSCOW, Feb 26 - RIA News. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on renaming the Ministry for the Development of the Far East to the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic. The relevant document is published on the official Internet portal of legal information.
As follows from the decree, the ministry is additionally entrusted with the functions of developing state policy and legal regulation in the field of development of the Arctic zone. (...) " [unofficial translation]
Firstly, questions arise about the effectiveness of such an innovation.
Secondly, with a degree of melancholy, we have to admit that, by the will of fate, the "Bureya theme ' and the theme of 'Novaya Zemlya and polar bears' 'united'.
Regarding the effectiveness of the steps taken.
1. "Development of public policy ..."
State policy in the Arctic comes down to a simple formula: "Reduce the anthropogenic load, preserve the nature of the Arctic."
Two more lines adjoin this position:
"The Northern Sea Route"
"International cooperation in the Arctic."
Thus, there is no need to develop any particularly complex 'state policy'.
2. The "Ministry".
At first glance, the ministry - it is not a bad thing.
But you got acquainted with the problem of (temporary) starvation of polar bears and their arrival in the settlements of Novaya Zemlya.
It turns out that there is a person (An official? A public figure?), who in the press was called the title "representative of the Governor of Pomerania for the development of the Arctic" ['представитель губернатора Поморья по развитию Арктики'].
And what do we see? I will not retell the information that was stated earlier.
Quite characteristic is the story of Kultuchny Lake (in Kamchatka). (Review of the Kamchatka Krai weekly journal for February 27, 2019: 'Kultuchnoe lake: how to clean, improve and save'.) (The Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East was created in accordance with the decree of the head of state 'On the structure of federal executive bodies' of May 21 2012).
Some of the skeptical readers may form the opinion that the goal of specialized bureaucratic structures of this type is to "knock out" and to "master" (to own) state budget funds.
In addition, a specialized bureaucratic structure of this type is a 'folder'. A 'folder' appears at the right time and serves as a symbol of the correctness of the decision ('We all know!').
With this logic, the question will be natural: if the effectiveness of a specialized bureaucratic structure of this type is doubtful, then what is required?
Modern reality shows the effectiveness of "collective thinking" and "collective action." And not in the style of "inconspicuous" borrowing ideas from bloggers, on the Internet.
Modern reality shows the effectiveness of "collective thinking" and "collective action" on a democratic constitutional basis.
If you adhere to this position, then Russia needs an effective parliament and a developed civil society.
(The modern 'Federation Council of the Federation of FS' makes a strange impression from the point of view of the principle of 'universal, equal, direct' 'with a secret [confidential voting]' Constitution of 1936. The State Duma is a more complicated topic. But this state body also does not cause much optimism).
It is they - the parliament and civil society, precisely their elements - deputies, commissions, non-governmental organizations, public figures, activists - that are able to effectively develop both the "Arctic" policies and a specific management decisions.
As for the bureaucratic apparatus, no one denies its usefulness and necessity. But are there not enough bodies? For example, Rosprirodnadzor [Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources], the bodies of subjects of federation and other bodies?
February 26, 2019 20:23
Translation from Russian into English: June 8, 2020 06:39.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Рассказ об интересе к Новой Земле и к белым медведям вечером 26 февраля 2019 г. Серия 2'.